My mom has always told me that rain water is really good for your hair. I was just wondering if that's really true. I've never actually tried rinsing my hair with it, but she says it makes her hair very soft. What would be the logic behind this?

Oskimosa

March 28th, 2009, 07:58 PM

Well, I know if filtered it's supposed to be good. CV uses filtered rainwater in their soaps. I think it's because it doesn't have all the additives that city water has, and isn't hard the way well water can be. However, rain also cleanses the air of pollutants like pollen and man-made pollutants, so I doubt it'd be a good idea just to collect it and dump it in your hair without filtering it... Maybe it's also more acidic, which would explain why it feels good on your hair.

I'm just basing that on what I already know, though. Maybe someone else here is better informed than I :)

xeternalsilence

March 28th, 2009, 08:00 PM

Supposedly it has effects similar to an ACV rinse, closes hair shaft, makes hair smooth, etc. though I'm not sure why. Maybe rain water is slightly acidic?

I can see it possibly being beneficial since there are no added chemicals or chlorine or anything, but I've never tried it myself so I don't know for sure.

Omens

March 28th, 2009, 08:01 PM

Well, it depends. Rain water can sometimes be excessively acidic. You're probably heard of 'acid rain'. I've seen statues that were more or less destroyed by it, and would probably be terrible on your hair.

With regular rain.... That's a little more difficult for me to say. It can come from the ocean, and usually rain is what makes small seasonal streams. I can't really see how washing with rain water could be all that different from washing in a clean stream. The pH can be altered from area to area (sometimes from pollution or other factors), but anything that isn't all that acidic I don't think would do anything all that different to your hair than some unfiltered water would.

I could be wrong, but that would be my guess. It's an interesting question though; I never even thought about it.

tina1025

March 28th, 2009, 08:10 PM

Yep it is true....Rain water is acidic and it gets rid of all the chemical residue from your hair and it is good for people who have dandruff. I have heard that it is also good for the body rash.

Anje

March 28th, 2009, 08:37 PM

Rainwater's also going to be less hard (that is, fewer calcium and magnesium ions in it) than water that has come out of the ground or from lakes and rivers, since it evaporated as pure water and has only picked up whatever was in the sky between evaporation and falling as rain.

Rinsing with distilled water is also supposed to make hair really nice. I know several folks here swear by this.

RancheroTheBee

March 28th, 2009, 11:44 PM

My father is obsessed with using rainwater on his hair. We bought this huge... keg thing that collect rainwater outside, so he can bring it in and take baths in it. He's so weird. Then again, there's this little fairy ring around the keg, and so I don't trust it after it's been sitting there for months.

LunaChick101

March 29th, 2009, 12:00 AM

Hello all. This is also my first post! But I thought I should chime in. I actually found out that rainwater has MSM in it. So yes it is great for the hair! I've never tried it though. I just take the powder instead.

SimplyLonghair

March 29th, 2009, 12:54 AM

I actually use rain water on my hair it makes my hair very soft and my hair and body love it. I collect it filter it and then warm it to not quite boiling and then store it in jugs for later use. I also am working on a rainwater collection that would be enough for all for our non-potable use. Just working on being greener.:cheese:

pdy2kn6

March 29th, 2009, 12:54 AM

interesting you started a thread on this 'cause i was also curious. When i was looking for gelatin powder at the pharmacy i saw a tub that said 'rainwater' in a big 2 ltre bottle, i was wondering why on earth they were selling rain water...

Bluebell

March 29th, 2009, 06:40 AM

Rainwater rules!!I just installed a collecting barrel because we have hard water in this area. I have a brita filter but I prefer rainwater. It's soft natural and free. I'm very happy with with my rain!

SmellyJelly

March 29th, 2009, 07:26 AM

My great nanny used to wash her hair with rain water and apparently she had extremely soft hair, i would like to try it.

melikai

March 30th, 2009, 02:05 AM

If you collect your rainwater in a barrel or similar, how would you go about filtering it for use? I would like to do this, but it sounds like a great deal of work. :/

Bluebell

March 30th, 2009, 02:43 AM

I actually don't filtre the rainwater from my collectingbarrel. The tap of the barrel is about 3 inch above the bottom so any particles sink below the taplevel. I just installed the barrel a few weeks ago, I'm going to clean the barrel every now and then.

If you want to filter the water you could use a coffeefiltre.

jera

March 30th, 2009, 02:50 AM

Hello all. This is also my first post! But I thought I should chime in. I actually found out that rainwater has MSM in it. So yes it is great for the hair! I've never tried it though. I just take the powder instead.

LOL. :D Another benefit of using a rainwater rinse. I've never tried this but if it contains MSM I just might.

Zindell

March 30th, 2009, 03:26 AM

I just love how my hair look and feel after rainwater. But I do it the easy lazy way. I like to take walks in the rain without an umbrella! :D

Anje

March 30th, 2009, 08:25 AM

If you're collecting rainwater, try to make sure the barrel is somehow covered... You don't want mosquitos breeding in it!

MsBubbles

March 30th, 2009, 11:09 AM

Sigh...as usual what works wonders for everybody else's hair is a complete disaster for mine.

Rainwater makes my hair look filthy and greasy. I don't know why. It must be an acid thing.

skay

February 5th, 2010, 07:25 PM

Reviving this thread as it particularly has some good explanations/tips...

I've recently been caught in the rain a few times and, indeed, my hair felt great when it dried!! Softer and nice body. My scalp felt better too (less dandruff - I only have a little to begin with).

As it's not that easy to collect rain here, I tried to simulate rain water by putting a few teaspoons of MSM in a couple of liters of heavily-filtered water and using that but I didn't get the same results.

I plan to experiment and add more MSM powder and a little apple cider vinegar.

Anyone else have any ideas on how to make rain water? :D

beez1717

February 6th, 2010, 01:39 AM

You are all so lucky. I have to live in sunny california in the area which has the hardest water I have ever experienced. If it weren't so expensive I'd just switch to bottled water. Heck I might as well use my filtered water (it's the only way to make water drinkable in my opinion!)

jera

February 6th, 2010, 02:23 AM

Well, it depends. Rain water can sometimes be excessively acidic. You're probably heard of 'acid rain'. I've seen statues that were more or less destroyed by it, and would probably be terrible on your hair.

With regular rain.... That's a little more difficult for me to say.

Wouldn't any rain water be acid rain now though due to our polluted environment? :( I never use rain water for this reason. It may just be worse than the poison that comes out of the tap. Perhaps a shower nozzle purifer would get all the pollutants out at home?

It must've be awesome in the 19th century when the air was cleaner with no exhaust emissions from cars, etc. Can you imagine how clean the rain water would've been back then? No wonder women were able to grow their hair down to the floor. Rinsing in pure water probably helped as well as drinking clean water.:p

Sammich

February 6th, 2010, 05:57 AM

Rain water is really good for hair I would assume. We collected rainwater in vietnam in these huge metal cylinder shaped containers and used them for our showers. My hair had good times then, (Very soft) and it was bleached AND permed then too! :p Could be because I was young though... I was about ten/eleven. I guess virgin bleached is better than dyed and dyed again and then bleached. (Which I did recently. :p )

Here's a pic of yours truly! :p
It's bigg....

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9537/dsc02039zn.jpg

It looks pretty moisturized, then again... I was pretty much into hair then too. ;)

myrrhmaiden

February 6th, 2010, 06:43 AM

I'd be more inclined towards rainwater if I was born before the industrial revolution. Then again, if I was alive then, it would probably be my only option. :P

lexiflowers

February 6th, 2010, 07:58 AM

Interesting. Whenever I let my hair dry naturally it has some S waves to varying degrees, but when it gets wet from the rain it dries with spiral curls. I really like this but have never been able to recreate it with the water that comes out of the taps at home. Hmm...

tralalalara

February 6th, 2010, 10:55 AM

it all seems nice, but then what do you do in the winter when it's not rain? melt the snow? or would it be different?